Evade to Protect
by Righteous-Flame
Summary: She told him they were still friends and that he could visit any time, but she hasn't seen him for quite a while. Almost like he's avoiding her or something. But why?


**(I know there's some confusion as to if we should be calling her Flame Princess or Flame King now. I'm just going to keep calling her Flame Princess unless the show starts doing otherwise. Not because of gender, but because it could get confusing since her father is already referred to as Flame King.)**

* * *

In the middle of the Grasslands walked the blazing new ruler of the Fire Kingdom. No longer clad in her official royal armor, she wore a casual long-sleeved dress. She could fly and get to her destination quicker, but she took her time walking to admire the outside world again. She loved her kingdom and all, but she really did miss this clean air and green grass.

There was something else on her mind, however. Her former boyfriend, Finn. She told him they were still friends and that he could visit any time, but she hasn't seen him for quite a while. Almost like he's avoiding her or something. Truth be told, she was really hoping he'd visit her often. He was her only real friend besides Cinnamon Bun, and even then Cinnamon Bun wasn't exactly good at conversations. But was Finn really avoiding her? She had a feeling he'd have a rough time with the break-up, but not so much that he'd stop being her friend. She figured there must be something else going on, so today she decided to pay him a surprise visit to find out what this was really about.

Soon enough, she made it to the tree house. Seeing it again reminded her of the fond memories her and Finn shared here. She knocked on the front door, careful not to leave a burn mark.

"Hang on, I'm comin'!" Finn yelled as he made his way down to the door.

The door swung open. "Hello—AH!" Finn let out a short yelp as he saw who it was. "Oh, uh… H-hey Flame Princess!"

"Hi, Finn!" she greeted, intentionally ignoring his obvious nervousness for now. "You wanna hang out? Play BMO or something?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure. C-come on in…" he said apprehensively. "I'll… get the tin foil and stuff…"

She followed Finn inside, trying to gauge what he was thinking. Back when they were together, he was usually happy to see her, sometimes even ecstatic. But now he seemed on edge, almost scared. Flame Princess decided not to confront him about it just yet.

Moments later, they were both seated on the foil-covered couch playing a game of "Car Crushers" on BMO. However, there was a very awkward atmosphere about them. Finn would barely say a word, and even as they played he continued to wear a nervous expression on his face. Flame Princess had enough of it. She placed the controller down and turned towards him, a stern look on her face.

"Huh?" Finn said, confused. "Is… something wrong?"

"Finn, I know you've been avoiding me." She replied. "And I want to know why, right now. I thought you were my friend…"

"O-of course I'm your friend! "

"Then why have you been avoiding me?!" She felt her flames growing more intense.

"Because…" Finn sighed deeply. "Because I'm scared…"

"Scared? Scared of me?"

"No!" he quickly replied. "I'm scared I'm going to hurt you again!"

"Huh?" FP's flames suddenly died down and her anger quickly disappeared.

Finn took another deep breath. "At first, I didn't realize how bad I hurt you. But I got to thinking, and then suddenly I understood. I was supposed to be the guy you could trust, and I bunked it all up! But you've got a new life now, so I thought… maybe you'd be better off without me, y'know? As much as I want to get back together with you, I just don't want to hurt you again…"

Flame Princess had a few theories in her mind about why he would avoid her, but this certainly wasn't one of them. Finn's logic behind it might have been a little weird, but it was surprisingly noble. Most of all, she was relieved. She was worried he hated her or something, and was thankful that this was not the case.

"Wow Finn, " she finally said, "That's… pretty dumb." Finn was about to interject, but she continued "But that's also really selfless and sweet."

"R-really?" he questioned.

"Yeah. You were willing to give up trying to get back together with me just because you thought it would protect me. But I don't want you out of my life, Finn. I forgave you, and you need to forgive yourself."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." He said looking down.

She gave him a gentle smile. "I trust you, Finn. I trust you can move on and learn from the past."

"So then, does this mean we can go back to dating?" He looked back up at her hopefully.

FP gave a disgruntled sigh. "Don't ruin the moment, Finn."

"Sorry…" He nervously chuckled, scratching his neck.

"I mean, it's not like I don't still have feelings for you. But you have to admit, our relationship was pretty rushed. We barely even knew each other before we started dating. I think we should just, you know, start over. As friends. And maybe we can just see where it goes from there?"

Finn looked at her with a content smile. "Yeah. I'd like that."

They'd hugged multiple times throughout their relationship, quickly enough to prevent burning. But now for the first time, they hugged not as lovers, but as friends. They didn't know whether they would escalate back into a romantic relationship or not, but they were happy in knowing that they still had each other.


End file.
